Full Moon in Aries: Penthesilea and Achilles

We are heading towards a full moon. It will happen in the sign of Aries.

Under the silvery rays of this full moon happens a meeting, a union. Two separate parts that are ever at odds with each other finally meet and unite.

This full moon will be significant for those striving to understand themselves. Those who are ever seeking their lost parts benefit from this full moon. A portal will be opened for inner marriage; a chance to make peace and unite with that part of us who we are ever at war with; in other words, uniting with “the other” in ourselves.

We have Sun in Libra, Moon in Aries. Sun is ruled by Venus and Moon is ruled by Mars. This means that we now need to look at what Venus and Mars are up to.

Venus and Mars are conjunct in Virgo. Conjunction is a meeting, a marriage, or for Venus and Mars it can even denote sexual union.

Virgo is the Celestial Virgin, bearing both masculine and feminine qualities. Vir- as in virile, virility… and -gyn as in gynecology. That is why we have Virgin Mary, a woman who gave birth by herself, wielding her feminine and masculine powers at once.

Thus Virgo is the principle of perfection which comes as a result of this unification. Virgo is completeness, being whole. It is the perfect fruit which is the result of the unification of feminine and masculine qualities which the flower bore. We humans strive for perfection, this is our struggle.

Tonight a perfect union will be born from the opposition and confrontation of the Moon and Sun.

Full Moon’s Theme Story from Lydia

To be able to understand this better, I wish to tell you a story from Lydia. This is one of my favorite stories. let us go back in time, back to Troia.

Towards the end of the Trojan War, after Achilles defeated Hektor and bathed Illion in darkness and mourning cries, the Amazons rode west from their abode deeper in Phyrgia. Queen Penthesilea was leading them.

At the battlefield fights Penthesilea and Achilles to death. At the end of their struggle, when Penthesilea is deadly wounded, her helmet slides from her head and her face is revealed. Achaens are frozen in awe for they had not encountered warrior women before. It is said that Achilles does not leave her body in the battlefield and he carries her to a hilltop and manages a burial no less worthy of a queen.

Not a long while after this, Achilles receives the shot on his heel.

Penthesilea and Achilles were enemies at the very moment of their meeting. yet the artists always pictured them as lovers in each other’s arms. We are told of Achilles’ mourning, awe and regret and not a single drop of victory. This story is about a transformation; from enemies to eternal lovers to be remembered for aeons.

When you mix two different things, you no longer have the original two things but a totally new thing. The original things die in order to give birth to a new one, a third one. Thus loving ourselves can sometimes mean such a process. It can mean letting our old definitions and identifications die so that we may emerge anew. When we hesitate to let go of “that is me”s, “this is what makes me”, “this is MY story”, “this is my paint” et cetera, we feel stuck and immobile. Our life does not seem to go anywhere just because we are so fixated on our own definitions of ourselves.

Tonight can be a chance to make peace with ourselves and be remembered as Lovers for eternity…